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João Paulo de Oliveira, the 2010 Formula Nippon series champion, will drive the No. 34 Conquest Racing entry in this weekend's Izod IndyCar Series race on the Twin Ring Motegi road course.

De Oliveira will stand in for IndyCar rookie Sebastian Saavedra, who is having sponsorship issues. Saavedra said he is "working very hard on finding the right funding to at least do [the season finale in Las] Vegas."

De Oliveira, 30, sits third in the 2011 Formula Nippon championship standings and won the fourth and most recent round at Twin Ring Motegi on July 8. He said he hopes his experience of the circuit will give him an advantage in his series debut, as none of IndyCar's full-time drivers have raced an Indy car previously on the Motegi road course.

"Motegi is a very smooth and technical track," said the native of São Paulo, Brazil. "It's quite demanding on the brakes as well. It's mostly slow corners followed by long straights, so you need to make sure you get the most out of braking without compromising corner exits."

De Oliveira is no stranger to fast, powerful, open-wheel race cars. He has competed in Formula Nippon--a series that uses V8 engines provided by Honda and Toyota and which produce about 600 hp--since 2007. He also has competed simultaneously in Japan's Super GT 500 series since 2006.

"I won't change my approach," he said. "I need to learn the limits of the car and then know how to get the most of it by qualifying. It's not an easy task, but I'm confident we can be up to speed and have a strong weekend."

"I have always been in contact with people in the U.S., but only now something real came up," he said. "The opportunity was there and I took it. In motorsports, you must be ready whenever something shows up, and I feel like this came up in the right moment.

"Right now, I'm focusing only on this race and trying to deliver a good result to the team. I'll take one step at a time."